Thanks to all who have read and/or responded to this thread! It has been rewarding to see how many have accepted responsibility for an errant round. This is how it should be IMHO,first asking the question "what did I do wrong?" Then, did I miss something in the conditions? Did I not return the rifle to battery? etc. While some thing out of your control COULD have happened, the more likely culprit 95% of the time is the shooter. Don Matzeder answered the question directly, and quite well - others also provided some thoughtful responses so it does appear that there is some interest in the non-hardware aspects of our game. So,in the near future, I will throw out another situation to ponder and , hopefully, get some more thoughful responses. Keep 'em in the center! Bob